Unfortunately we do not have definite details for what assets will be available (maps, tokens and such). This aspect is still in the planning stages, and may be tied into other portions of the Game Space project.

Any maps we produce will be done using the same resolution we send to the printer. I guess if we ever downsampled a map for the printer in that case we'd use the original, higher resolution map instead.

Basically we will be using the maximum resolution we can get from our artists. Paizo Game Space will deliver those maps as efficiently as possible so you're not downloading the entire all at once. The original file for the example we used in the demo was 300dpi and weighed in at 200MB, and zooming and panning on it is really smooth.

I guess we could post a video or something of the thing in action, but I'd rather put our efforts into filing off the remaining sharp edges so we can let people play with it as soon as possible. Software like this is more meant to be touched and played with than to be watched.

have separate blank browser window open in case of accidental switching

--

presentation

We're working on a lot of stuff:
A redesign of the Pathfinder Society website, along with new forums for each faction
Way to upload character sheets and stat blocks to paizo.com, going to be biggest stat block database on the internet
More stuff I can't talk about.

Tonight i'm going to talk about one thing.

Today, Paizo is announcing a new way to play the games you love: Paizo Game Space.

[main screen ON, showing map with dragon]

--

Paizo Game Space is amazing software that lets you play with the people you know... anywhere in the world. All you need is the internet.

It's a virtual tabletop. Now VTTs aren't new. I'm gonna say "VTT" a lot because "virtual tabletop" is kind of a mouthful.

Virtual tabletops aren't new. There have been literally dozens of them before this. Some of them we like. Some of them we like a lot.

But none of them is exactly what we think a virtual tabletop should be.

..

We've talked to a lot of people and they all say the same thing:

We love playing on a VTT. We can keep our group together after people move away.

We love playing on a VTT. As Cosmo told me the other day, it lets him game in his underwear without all the catcalling and wolf whistles.

People love playing on a VTT. But they're kind of annoying!

You have to find the software. And download it. Install it. Will it run on a Mac? That's a big one for us at Paizo.

And then you get the fun part. IP addresses and firewalls and port forwarding and all that. Even network administrators don't want to deal with that stuff. That's work! We're here for fun.

..

So today, Paizo is reinventing the virtual tabletop.

Paizo Game Space runs right in your web browser. There's no software to install! None. Not even a plug-in.
If you can get to paizo.com, you and your friends can play on Paizo Game Space.

We're all about making life better for gamers. We've built Paizo Game Space to do just that. So let's take a quick look.

..

[.... demo ... ]

Here I've got the first combat from Rise of the Runelords, the Swallowtail Festival.

Smooth scrolling, panning, zooming

Drag tokens around. Resize dragon back to huge from "ginormous". Move it off map.

..

So here's the thing. Running a game in a VTT is fun, but the prep work is kind of a pain.

You still have to find a map, prepare it, resize it, load it, align the grid. And then you get to go looking for monster art and tokens and handouts and all the rest.

And for some of us that's fun, but sometimes you just want to play.

..

Paizo Game Space changes all that.

We're going to do the prep work for you.

When you run an adventure like Rise of the Runelords on Paizo Game Space, all the maps and handouts, all the monsters and NPCs, will already be right there for you.

..

Zoom in to FRUIT CARTnote, we had technical difficulties with the Swallowtail map, so instead we used a different flip-mat, so actually zoomed into carpet details instead of seeing individual fruits in fruit cart

The source for this map is about 200 megabytes. It's higher resolution than what we put in our PDFs. This is the original art we send to the printer. Maximum resolution.

Zoom out.

..

Let's take a quick look at combat. I want to emphasize something here about our approach.

We are not implementing the Pathfinder rules in Paizo Game Space. That would be crazy.

Our approach is, just don't be stupid by default.

..

Show Initiative tab.

So it knows a little about initiative.

Roll initiative. Modify a roll.

Start combat. Next, next. Round separator.

So it knows a little about initiative, it knows players and monsters go in order, and it knows about rolling dice. But if you need to change something you can.

OK, so that's a brief look at Paizo Game Space. I can't tell you how excited I am about this.

Let me answer a couple questions I know you have: When can I use it. And how much is it gonna cost.

When can I use it.

It's not quite ready yet. Don't worry, we're not going to wait until it's perfect. It turns out, software is never perfect.
So you'll be able to play with Paizo Game Space sometime this summer. And we'll keep making it better as we go.

How much will it cost?

Nothing. We haven't worked out all of the details yet. Or really any of the details.
But you'll be able to play a game on our virtual tabletop and not pay us a dime.

We'll have ways for you to give us money, don't worry about that. We like money.

But the main reason we're working on this is to build our community. Provide a place for you to gather.

I have just started a Skull & Shackles game on roll20.net, and that is one magical piece of work (http://roll20.net/).

Will there be options for:

Dropping in our own maps?

Drawing all over the map?

Creating and dropping in our own tokens?

While I am incredibly excited about this (Paizo is rapidly becoming a one-stop table-top online shop <try saying that 10 times real fast>) I just need to know that this option is going to have all the capabilities that the other free option has, before I migrate over when this goes live.

I don't expect a lot of games to migrate right away. I think most existing campaigns probably depend on the features offered by the VTT they're currently using, and it'll be awhile before our feature set is up to par. And I'm sure there will be features that we may never do, especially related to automating combat and adjudicating rules.

I think we're going to have a great place to play, but it definitely won't be the only place.

Didn't another well-known RPG company try something like this, and completely and utterly fail at it? I'll admit, that concerns me.

The part that reassures me about this is the following:

Gary Teter wrote:

When can I use it.

It's not quite ready yet. Don't worry, we're not going to wait until it's perfect. It turns out, software is never perfect.
So you'll be able to play with Paizo Game Space sometime this summer. And we'll keep making it better as we go.

One of the main reasons Wizards' attempt failed so spectacularly was a complete lack of openness... if whatever is ready is going to be released to the public later this year, even if it's not entirely finished, then the chances of absolutely nothing getting done along with claims that it's "almost ready" are much smaller.

So let me get this right..the VTT is real time?..in which case it won't be much use for the PbP's here as they tend to span continents and many many time zones.

I do worry sometimes about Paizo's explosion of diversification this year..it reminds me of a certain company once based in Lake Geneva Michigan

Isn't Lake Geneva in Wisconsin? And, I don't think they are doing away with the pbp forums. At least they haven't said that. They are 2 different types of games, and I would think they want to have both of them popular. More players=more sales. Doesn't matter how they play.

What code base being used (Flash/HTML5)? I particularly do not want to use flash. How much automation/scripting will the system allow me? I currently use MapTool and I would like to have many of the same features. If automation is just 2d10+5 then pass.

"We'll have ways for you to give us money, don't worry about that." I'm afraid that means to pay for the content from each expansion in a way similar to the way Hero Lab/Lone Wolf does it. Unfortunately, if that's the case, I've already spent too much there to switch over, even if Gamespace is a superior environment.

"We'll have ways for you to give us money, don't worry about that." I'm afraid that means to pay for the content from each expansion in a way similar to the way Hero Lab/Lone Wolf does it. Unfortunately, if that's the case, I've already spent too much there to switch over, even if Gamespace is a superior environment.

I'm hoping this was kept in mind.

Uhhh, it's already been said that it'll be free. I think the "we'll get money out of you elsewhere" means that they don't plan to stop selling APs, books, PDFs, etc.